This Sunday my worship was more joyful than usual. I had the opportunity to share the experience with someone long missed. Valesca Mondragon sat next to me at church and smiled at me as we danced together unto the Lord.
About two months ago we received news that Katarin, Valesca, and Angelica had returned to Tegucigalpa and were back living with their aunt near the garbage dump. We were not sure why this decision was made, but the girls were back at their old home, happily hanging out with their extended family. Mysteriously, the aunt who had once forced them to work in the garbage dump was no longer doing so. Perhaps this was one of the prerequisites for her taking them back. Thank God that the girls did not go back to picking garbage, but they were still not in school.
AFE needed to tread carefully.
This aunt knew that we were partly responsible for taking them away from her and moving them to Catacamas. After friendly visits the aunt began to see that AFE did not wish her any ill harm, and was only acting out of love for the children. Then a medical brigade came to AFE and the aunt found herself in need of medical attention. When she experienced the expert care from the doctors a
nd free medicine for her family, she began to think: AFE is here to bless us, full of benefits for peo
ple in need. It would be ridiculous to miss out on these things. Jesi Ordonez, AFE’s director, met with her and asked if the three girls could come back to school at AFE. The aunt agreed, but mentioned it would be difficult with the increasing costs of transportation. The girls live about 2 miles from the school, on a dangerous road, and walking to and from school was just not proving feasible. We worked out a situation in which our volunteers could
pick them up in the mornings and then AFE would provide bus fare for their way home.
Since then, the girls have come to AFE and church and quickly fallen back into their old places….the centers of our hearts.
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